Certain types of vehicles, such as rockets, include one or more nozzles as part of a liquid propulsion system. In a liquid propulsion system, a liquid propellant is ignited, and one or more nozzles expand and accelerate the resulting combustion gases. As a result, the gases exit the nozzles at very high speeds, propelling the vehicle in a desired direction.
Cylindrical- or cone-shaped nozzles have been used for many years. Unfortunately, these types of nozzles are often quite large. As a result, these types of nozzles may not be desirable in certain situations due to volume or weight limitations. A multi-nozzle grid (MNG) is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional collection of small nozzles called “nozzlettes” in a grid pattern. A multi-nozzle grid can provide the same performance as a conventional cylindrical- or cone-shaped nozzle but in a much smaller space.